U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley made the following statement after the Office of Management and Budget cleared the comprehensive BSE rule and the Department of Agriculture released the rule for public comment.
Grassley, along with Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska, led a bipartisan group of senators pressing the administration to issue the comprehensive BSE rule. The rule had been in the works for several years, but was stalled within the Office of Management and Budget. The letter to the Office of Management and Budget Acting Director Jeffrey Zients and Animal Plant Health and Inspection Services Administrator, Dr. Gregory Parham, can be found here.
"Beef producers have been waiting years for the Department of Agriculture to issue the BSE comprehensive rule. Without the rule, our trade negotiators face real challenges when they are pushing other countries to adopt science-based approaches to beef imports. Just as we got close to having this rule issued, OMB held it up for reasons that still aren't clear. It looks like we finally shook the rule loose after our bipartisan group of senators sent a letter to Acting Director Zients pressing him to quickly act. I will continue to follow the progress of this rule as it moves through the public comment process, and I look forward to seeing new openings for our beef markets."
